VANCOUVER. MAY 23 2012 Adrian Dix attends the 27th annual memorial for the 331 victims of the Air India bombings at the Air India Memorial in Stanley Park’s Ceperley Playground, Vancouver, June 23 2012.Gerry Kahrmann
/ PNG

VANCOUVER. MAY 23 2012 . Former City councillor George Chow attends the 27th annual memorial for the 331 victims of the Air India bombings at the Air India Memorial in Stanley Park’s Ceperley Playground, Vancouver, June 23 2012.Gerry Kahrmann
/ PNG

VANCOUVER. MAY 23 2012 . Flowers are adorn the Air India Memorial at the 27th annual memorial for the 331 victims of the Air India bombings in Stanley Park’, Vancouver, June 23 2012.Gerry Kahrmann
/ PNG

VANCOUVER. MAY 23 2012 . Harmit Jhatoo attends the 27th annual memorial for the 331 victims of the Air India bombings at the Air India Memorial in Stanley Park’s Ceperley Playground, Vancouver, June 23 2012.Gerry Kahrmann
/ PNG

VANCOUVER. MAY 23 2012 . Harmit Jhatoo attends the 27th annual memorial for the 331 victims of the Air India bombings at the Air India Memorial in Stanley Park’s Ceperley Playground, Vancouver, June 23 2012.Gerry Kahrmann
/ PNG

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VANCOUVER - Dozens of supporters joined families of Air India bombing victims at a memorial service in Stanley Park Saturday commemorating the 27th anniversary of the terrorist attack.

Major Sidhu and his family were there to remember his sister Sukhwinder, and her two children, 10-year-old daughter Parminder and son Kuldip, 9, who died in the bombing.

He was too emotional to speak to reporters after he listened to speeches by politicians and friends.

B.C. NDP leader Adrian Dix was there on behalf of his wife Renee Saklikar whose aunt Zeb and uncle Umar Jethwa - both doctors - perished in the bombing, leaving their young son Irfan an orphan.

“He went from having two loving parents who were wonderful people who provided medical care to low-income people in India, to being an orphan,” Dix said.

“He has lived with that and he is so courageous and brave and has lived with great honour and generosity in his life.”

Dix said he sees the anniversary of the deadly terrorist attack as a day that “inspires us to always seek justice and to seek accountability in our laws.”

“The thing I admire most about the families who I have come to know is their determined search for justice and their generosity to one another and to the community,” he said.

Liberal MLA Dave Hayer also addressed the small gathering in the pouring rain at the Air India memorial in the park.

His father, journalist Tara Singh Hayer, was murdered in 1998 after agreeing to be a witness against three men charged in the bombing – Ajaib Singh Bagri, Ripudaman Singh Malik and Inderjit Singh Reyat. Reyat pleaded guilty to manslaughter and the other two were later acquitted after Reyat lied on the stand at their trial.

“I have been involved in this sad tragedy for a long time,” Hayer said. “I remember my father tried to do his part by reminding people that we can’t allow terrorists in British Columbia, Canada to get away with killing 331 innocent people.”

He said most of those who died in the June 23, 1985 bombing were Canadians.

“There were people from all religions on there. There were Sikhs. There were Hindus, there were Christians. There were other religions,” Hayer said. “Sadly only one person has been convicted.”

And she said her government is still committed to implementing recommendations from the Air India inquiry released two years ago.

“As a federal government, we are most mindful of the Air India inquiry recommendations. We have been trying to implement changes in our terrorism laws in keeping with those recommendations,” she said. “We have done some and we have more to do. So we are most mindful of that. But today is not a day to talk about law and legislation. It is a day to remember people we love and people we wish to honour in this way.”

The victims died after a B.C.-made suitcase bomb was loaded onto Air India Flight 182 at Toronto’s Pearson Airport.

The Air India bombing remains the worst mass murder in Canadian history. A B.C. Supreme Court judge found that the Sikh terrorist Babbar Khalsa plotted against India’s national airline in retaliation for the Indian Army’s attack on the Golden Temple in 1984.

So the B.C. terrorist cell built two suitcase bombs destined for two Air India flights via connecting flights out of Vancouver Airport. The first exploded at Tokyo’s Narita Airport, killing two baggage handlers unloading a Vancouver flight. The second bomb destroyed Air India Flight 182 off the coast of Ireland, killing all 329 aboard.

kbolan@vancouversun.com

read my blog at vancouversun.com/therealscoop

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